Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience
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Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience Industry Stakeholders Report, December 2020 1 2 1 Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience Industry Stakeholders Report December 2020 Niki Black Andrew Burton Nick Cass Rebecca Farley Judith King Andrew Newman Venda Pollock 1 Contents 01 Foreword 5 02 Key Findings 6 Summary of recommendations 9 03 Introduction 13 Research themes 16 Creation 16 Consumption 16 Exchange 42 Case studies 17 Gibside, Rowlands Gill, Tyne and Wear 19 Belsay Hall, near Morpeth, Northumberland 23 Cherryburn, Mickley Square, Northumberland 24 Holy Trinity Church, East Sunderland 28 MCAHE Conference 31 04 Case Study Findings 32 Immediate benefits 32 Understanding the longer-term benefits 35 contemporary arts commissioning can bring to heritage organisations Perceptions of ‘contemporary art’ 37 Language and accessibility 37 Specific terminology in arts and heritage sectors 39 Resources needed to develop a contemporary 40 art programme Organisational 40 Staffing and capacity 41 Marketing, Press and Communications 44 Budgets 46 3 Contents 05 Commissioning Art in Heritage Venues 48 Creation 48 Choosing the right site and context for the artwork 48 The importance of the artist’s brief 49 Timescales - allowing enough time 51 Different methods of selecting artists 52 Giving artists good information and time to visit 53 Issuing a contract between the artist and the organisation 54 Supporting the artist while they are working onsite 55 Consumption 56 Audience development 56 Interpretation 58 Exchange 68 A new ‘commissioning industry’ 68 Forums for critical exchange 70 Beyond site-specificity 71 Diversity 73 Future research 74 06 Information 76 3 "The historic locations are a fantastic opportunity to engage with hidden histories and untold histories." Commissioned artist 4 Andrew Burton installing The Orangery Urns at National Trust, Gibside 5 01 Foreword This report reflects upon the outcomes and findings of Mapping Contemporary Art in the Heritage Experience (MCAHE). The project was the first of its type, bringing serious critical examination to the role and practice of commissioning new temporary artworks in heritage properties. We explored the effects of this on audiences, properties and artists. The project was carried out between 2017 and 2020, by a team of researchers from Newcastle and Leeds Universities, working in partnership with the National Trust, the Churches Conservation Trust, English Heritage, Arts Council England, the Contemporary Visual Art Network and Arts&Heritage. Funding for the research was provided by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), with additional support from our partner organisations and Newcastle and Leeds Universities. This report summarises the research and makes recommendations for stakeholders involved in commissioning and siting works of art in heritage environments. We are grateful for the contribution of our heritage partners, the commissioned artists and our focus group participants, all of whom have been generous in their involvement in the project and in reflecting upon it afterwards. These reflections have been key to informing our recommendations. Our focus group participants, drawn from regular heritage visitors and those who rarely attend such venues, journeyed with us throughout the research process, providing invaluable insight into how public audiences understand and appreciate contemporary artworks. The strong and positive relationships formed through the research have been a key to the project’s success. We particularly appreciate the contribution of staff and volunteers who work at the sites for our commissions: Gibside and Cherryburn, both managed by the National Trust; Holy Trinity Church in Sunderland, managed by the Churches Conservation Trust; and Belsay Hall, managed by English Heritage. Thanks also to Andrew Fletcher at Mercury Writing, who helped with writing this report. Professor Andrew Burton, Fine Art Department Newcastle University 5 02 Key Findings Creation will be can potentially conflict with or constrain some artistic processes. Similarly, artists may • Spending time at heritage sites have different ideas around and researching them can have autonomy and creative control. a transformative effect on artists’ Proper consideration must be career options, generating new given to these questions early on. outlets and opportunities. • Strong communication between • Making work within heritage contexts artists and heritage organisations can directly influence artistic is critical. A nominated liaison within practice and lead to new ways of the heritage organisation can ensure working – with different materials, effective two-way communication scales and subject matter. throughout the project. • Working processes between heritage •• The scale and complexity of the sites and artists are complex and property or commission will be benefit from well-defined structures reflected in the size of its steering that are understood by all parties group. Whether this is an from the outset. individual or a large team, there remains a need for a clearly • Artists bring their own reflections and identified project manager or ideas to historical contexts. They point of contact. should not be steered towards telling a specific narrative. Commissioners • Artists can be powerful agents, work should design interesting, open artist within and across communities. briefs to make a space for creative The creative activity therefore has impact beyond simply the artist and development. the property. •• Heritage organisations desiring to ‘know’ what the finished artwork 6 Fiona Curran’s Your Sweetest Empire is to Please at National Trust, Gibside 7 Key Findings Consumption • While art and heritage audiences often overlap, this is not always true. Commissioning new artworks in • Presenting histories differently or heritage sites provides a route into more vividly increases knowledge contemporary art for audiences who and encourages enquiry. Artists can may not ordinarily visit art galleries. play a significant and important role in revealing and exploring new • Accessible understandings depend creative modes of presentation. on effective interpretation. While this •• Artworks can deepen and enrich should not be overpowering, a lack of emotional responses to an historic interpretation risks creating a sense site, making its stories more vivid of exclusion. and its history more relevant to •• Interpretive materials must be well current events. judged, imaginative and offer •• Art can create new audience creative solutions for engagement. experiences for both arts and •• The role of volunteers in the heritage audiences. presentation and understanding •• This is beneficial for audiences of the work is critical. There is and staff, as well as heritage a need for training for volunteers organisations’ self-perception to enable them to gain confidence and ideas around the wider roles in presenting contemporary works. of heritage in society. "We got members of staff talking to the visitors in a more engaging way." Heritage organisation, staff member 7 02 Key Findingss Exchange • Despite this, arts commissioning in heritage is considered to be worth strategic investment. Organisations • In exchange terms, the value of including Arts Council England, this practice is oriented around three National Trust, English Heritage, The imperatives: audience engagement, Canal and River Trust, The Forestry interpretative work and arts/artist Commission and others, have given development. significant support to arts in heritage activity. So while strategic priorities • UK contemporary art in heritage will always change in response to activity has expanded massively a fluid landscape, there exists a since 1990, creating a status of precedent for supporting this activity, a new ‘commissioning industry’. and mounting evidence of its benefits Definitions of heritage sites have across both sectors. also broadened, from the ‘country house museum’ to include historic • The MCAHE research revealed areas landscapes, archaeological and where practical change and industrial heritage sites, and others. reviewing commissioning processes can give voice to hidden histories • The Covid-19 pandemic has brought and to hitherto silenced narratives many industries to an abrupt halt through: a) telling different stories and the looming financial associated with heritage sites and consequences of this mean that b) generating opportunities for more the future is uncertain for both the diverse artists from marginalised groups. arts and heritage sectors. 8 Mark Fairnington sketching, artist of Walking, Looking and Telling Tales at National Trust, Cherryburn 9 Key Findings 02 Summary of recommendations A key theme among these recommendations is collaboration. Successful joint working relies on understanding and buy-in from all parties. It is also important to recognise the diversity in the relationships between venues and their heritage organisations, and the level of involvement each might have in commissioning an art project. With those points in mind, these recommendations can have relevance across several stakeholder groups and we advise readers to consider all of them accordingly. Heritage organisations Heritage organisations and venues • Consider the long term. The criteria for business cases for commissioning • Heritage organisations and venues contemporary art should be aligned must be realistic about the full with audience development scope of a project and its associated strategies rather